Popular Woodworking 2006-02 № 153, страница 77

in the quarters above the Meetinghouse feel the same pride in his workmanship I feel in mine? And what about the maker of that magnificent secretary? Did he step back and admire the beauty and strength of the piece he'd built with his own hands?

To have seen the work as a product of his efforts would have been antithetical to Shaker belief, but would it have been possible to have succeeded so brilliantly at these individual works without taking personal satisfaction in the accomplishment? That is, I think,

the paradox of Shaker furniture. When it is good, it is very good.

It is work that, for most modern woodworkers, would provide nourishing meals for healthy egos. Is it possible that the 19th-century Pleasant Hill craftsmen who produced this work could have done so without feeling the pride that we would have felt in their places? PW

"Hands to work and

hearts to God."

—Mother Ann Lee

SEPARATED, THEN REUNITED

Pedestal stands like this example were fairly common products of Pleasant Hill workshops. Few, however, carry the history of this particular stand. The ovolo-cornered top was once the lapboard for Sister Mary Carmichael Settles (1836-1923), the last living Pleasant Hill Shaker, who had joined the community as a widow with two children. After Settle's death, her granddaughter had the lapboard placed on this pedestal. The stand then came into the possession of Hazel Hamilton, a dealer in Shaker furniture. Hamilton had the lapboard removed from this base and replaced with a more "Shaker-esque" round top.

Later, when the stand and lapboard were returned to the Pleasant Hill community, the two original parts were reunited.

Unfortunately, the craftsman who reunited them didn't properly align the base and top. The tops of Shaker tripod stands of this type should be aligned so that that one of the top's long sides is parallel to a line connecting the ends of two of the tripod feet. — KP

PLEASANT HILL LEG SHAPES

In the earlier examples of Pleasant Hill casework, legs tended to be more ornate than in examples dating from the mid-century. The legs on these earlier pieces often exhibit beads and coves. Later pieces, such as the Gettys work table, are more severe, with long, unbroken tapers from the square upper section to the floor.

In addition to this severity, these later legs are typified by a heaviness not found in the legs in Eastern Shaker communities. This is most evident in the leg of the Gettys work table, which is remarkably thick all the way from the squared apron section to the floor. The bed leg shown below is similarly massive from square shoulder to floor.

Another feature of Pleasant Hill legs is the usually abrupt transition from square apron section to round (or octagonal) lower section. The side table leg, the bed leg and the cupboard-on-chest leg all have tran-sitionless sawn shoulders below the square apron section. The Getty's work table leg exhibits a minimal turned transition at the shoulder, and the top-most cupboard-over-chest leg is the only leg on this page with a fully developed transition from square apron section to turned lower section. It is also - perhaps not coincidentally - the most delicate leg on this page. —KP

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6V4"

6m

BBM

2V2"

10"

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15V2" ,^2V2"

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21³/4" <

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3³/s"

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2Vs"

Bed leg

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Side-table leg

20³/S":

6"

1⁵/s"

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chest leg Work-table leg I

78

102 Popular Woodworking February 2006